This past week was the beginning of the changes we anticipate each year as Fall comes to New England. The leaves are, finally, beginning to show evidence of the yellows and oranges we love. We are often the first stop of visitors from the Middle Atlantic States as they head north to see the wonderful fall colors that have already changed. They are impressed by our history, our historic structures, our oceanside location, and enjoy the wonderful food and hospitality they receive here. You are one of the important reasons people love Newport.
You know there is plenty to promote here. There will be lots of music and entertainment all around the city this weekend. Check the listings on WhatsUpNewp.com for places and times. Let’s keep making new friends for the Newport Experience. And as always, keep doing what you do to help our visitors enjoy every moment!
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TOUR GUIDES TIP OF THE WEEK – ENTHUSIASM MATTERS
Probably more important than any other quality of the Newport tour guide and greeter is their ENTHUSIASM.
The word “enthusiasm” comes from the Greek word “entheos” which means the God within. A bright voice tone, a smile, and a powerful greeting are the perfect combination to deliver a positive enthusiastic welcome to each visitor. Most natural enthusiasm is driven by our excitement and passion for the City-by-the-Sea and its long and interesting history. In the same way that tour guides and greeters are excited about our city’s many mansions, historic sites, and events, their enthusiasm inspires similar feelings among our millions of annual guests and visitors.
You are often the first person our guests come in contact with.
Use your enthusiasm to excite and exceed our visitors’ expectations!
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KEEP LEARNING
Learn as much as you can about our city and know about upcoming events, concerts, and schedules of our many museums, attractions, restaurants, and historic sites. Be sure to review the following updated listings and previews of the activities and events scheduled for the coming season for both residents and visitors alike.
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JOB OPENINGS
There are still a number of job openings at the city’s historic attractions, including tour guides, cashiers, security personnel, and ticket sellers.
REMEMBER: Most of the city’s largest tour and cruise businesses accept job applications year-round.
- Newport Historical Society, Public Engagement Associate. Assist with all operations at the Museum of Newport History & Shop, including, but not limited to high volume retail sales and giving history tours through museum, historic sites, and walking tours of downtown Newport. This position operates from the Museum of Newport History at the Brick Market. Info: Jenna Teachout, 401-841-8770, jteachout@newporthistory.org
- Historic Tours of Newport, Specialist Tours Manager. Teachers/Educators with subject matter History. Certified RI History teachers are welcome to apply. Candidates must have comprehensive knowledge of American History and Rhode Island history specifically. Full-time, Part-time, Contract. $12-$25/hour. Info: 401/855-1942
- Preservation Society of Newport County, Associate Tour Guide. Part-time. Work as a Tour Guide within the audio tour house museums (The Breakers, Marble House, Rosecliff and The Elms). Audio guides are responsible for providing excellent customer service, assisting visitors in way-finding on tours, learning about our house museums and the families who owned those houses, providing information to visitors and contributing to the overall quality of the visitor’s experience. Info: newportmansions.org
For continuous and updated listings, please go to www.whatsupnewp.com.
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NEW LISTINGS AND EVENTS: For more information to prepare you to be the best tour guide & greeter ever, read and learn about the following updated listings and previews of the busy season ahead for residents and visitors alike.
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CRUISE SHIPS ARRIVING
Stay up-to-date and aware of the weekly arrival of cruise ships to Newport and the thousands of visitors they bring to our fair city. Here is a list of the upcoming arrivals, courtesy of Discover Newport.
- Friday, October 26 – M/V NCL Gem, from Norwegian Cruise Lines
- Sunday, October 28 – M/V Victory 1, from Victory Cruise Lines
- Sunday, November 4 – M/V Silver Spirit, from Silver Sea Cruises
- Monday, November 5 – M/V 7 Seas Navigator, from Regent Cruise Line
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SPEAKERS & SPECIAL EVENTS THIS WEEK
Check out the wide selection of lectures, exhibits, talks, classes, tours, and workshops to add to your knowledge and increase your understanding of the people and history of greater Newport.
NOW THROUGH OCTOBER 31 – TRINITY PUMPKIN PATCH – QUEEN ANNE SQUARE – NEWPORT
This annual family fun destination began last Saturday in Queen Anne Square in back of Trinity Church and continues on weekends and holidays [10 am – 6 pm) and weekdays (Noon – 6 pm) through the end of the month. The site is beautiful, stretching down the back lawn and overlooking Newport Harbor. You and your guests will find a big pumpkin patch, pumpkins for sale, other vendors and food, and music! Bring the kids and create some memories with photos among the pumpkins. Info: 401/846-0660.
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 – DISCOVER COLONIAL NEWPORT WALKING TOUR – 10:30 AM
This is one of several wonderful walking tours offered throughout the year by the Newport Historical Society. This tour features stories of entrepreneurship, African American heritage and religious diversity during Newport’s colonial period. Tickets $15; Children $5. 10:30 AM – 11:45 AM. Tour leaves from the Museum of Newport History, 127 Thames Street (Newport). Info and Reservations at: newporthistorytours.org
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25 – THE GOURMANDS’S WAY – LECTURE – 6:00 PM
Author and historian Justin Spring talks about his book, “The Gourmands’s Way: Six Americans in Paris and the Birth of a New Gastronomy,” and the six amazing characters who changed eating forever during a certain time in Paris. At Rosecliff (548 Bellevue Avenue, Newport). Advance tickets ($10-$15) required. Info: 401/847-1000, x178; newportmansions.org.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 26 – ROGUES & SCOUNDRELS WALKING TOUR – 10:30 AM
Every tour guide should experience one or more of the great walking tours organized by the Newport Historical Society. This tour about some of the city’s more colorful residents – pirates, criminals, and more — leaves at 10:30 am from the Museum of Newport History, 127 Thames Street (Newport). Info and reservations at: newporthistorytours.org
SATURDAY, OCTBOER 27 – COLONIAL WARDROBE HISTORY EVENT – 10 AM – 2 PM
This is an interactive program with a historical interpreter as a 17th century tailor. At the Wanton-Lyman-Hazard House (17 Broadway, Newport). No fee, but donations welcome. Info: 401/846-0813; newporthistory.org
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27 – DISCOVER COLONIAL NEWPORT WALKING TOUR – 10:30 AM
Every tour guide should experience one or more of the great walking tours organized by the Newport Historical Society. This tour offers stories of entrepreneurship, African American heritage and religious diversity during Newport’s colonial period. The tour leaves at 10:30 am from the Museum of Newport History, 127 Thames Street (Newport). Info and reservations at: newporthistorytours.org
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28 – GOLDEN TO GILDED WALKING TOUR – 10:30 AM
Every tour guide should experience one or more of the great walking tours organized by the Newport Historical Society. On this tour you’ll get the inside skinny on the transformation of Newport and its people from its colonial Golden Age to Gilded Age summer colony. This tour leaves at 10:30 am from the Museum of Newport History, 127 Thames Street (Newport). Info and reservations at: newporthistorytours.org
NOW THROUGH OCTOBER, 2018 – “PORSCHE THEN & NOW” – AUDRAIN AUTOMOBILE MUSEUM
The Porsche is one of the most amazing automobile stories of the 20th century. Check out this exhibit and learn about the history and current leadership of this brand. Open daily, 10 am – 4 pm. 222 Bellevue Avenue, Newport. Info: 401/856-4420. Audrainautomuseum.org
PREVIEW OF WINTER IN NEWPORT
CHRISTMAS AT THE NEWPORT MANSIONS – NOVEMBER 17, 2018 – JANUARY 1, 2019
Christmas Season begins in November at the four big houses of the Preservation Society. Christmas flowers and special decorations will fill The Breakers, The Elms, Marble House, and Rosecliff. Special holiday evenings are scheduled at the Breakers on November 24, December 1, 8, 22, and 29th from 6-8 pm. The Ems and Marble House Duet holiday evening is scheduled for December 15th from 6-9 pm. Info: newportmansions.org
CITY OF NEWPORT ILLUMINATED BOAT PARADE – November 23
Takes place in Newport Harbor, Newport. Info: 401/845-5815
HOLIDAYS BY THE SEA BLOCK PARTY & HOLIDAY STROLL KICK OFF – NOVEMBER 23 — BOWEN’S WHARF
This annual event ushers in the season of joy and good cheer. 4-8- PM. Bowen’s Wharf. Info: 401/849-2243; bowenswharf.com
FOUR CURRENT EXHIBITS & TOURS NOT TO BE MISSED
SERVANT LIFE TOUR AT THE ELMS
Considered by many to be the best tour in Newport, The Elms’ now world-famous guided “Servant Life Tour” added two additional daily tour times to meet demand during the summer months. Tours are offered at 10:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 4:30 pm. The tour is one hour. Info: newportmansions.org
VISIT ROUGH POINT – NEWPORT RESTORATION FOUNDATION’S 50th ANNIVERSARY
The Newport Restoration Foundation (NRF) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. This year its exhibitions at historic Rough Point mansion, as posted on its website (newportrestoration.org), are: “‘To Preserve and Restore’: Newport Restoration Foundation at 50,” and “A Hand in Design: Exquisite Drawings of Jewelry and Architecture for Doris Duke.” This is a collaboration between NRF and David Webb New York, jewelry designer to Duke and many other prominent figures from 1948 to the present. Rough Point will be open for tours through November 11th. Don’t miss this amazing home.
OSCAR WILDE & THE BOHEMIAN MOVEMENT AS YOU’VE NEVER IMAGINED THEM
There are only a few more weeks left to catch this one-of-a-kind exhibit at the Galleries at Rosecliff, called “Bohemian Beauty: The Aesthetic Movement & Oscar Wilde’s Newport.” Preservation Society Curator Ashley Householder has gathered a breathtaking collection of furniture, ceramics, wallpaper, clothing, accessories, and ephemera about the aesthetic movement (1870-1890) and the era’s major promoter, Oscar Wilde (1854-1900). The colors, patterns, and shapes of this “art for art’s sake” movement and the influence of Irish writer, playwright, and impresario Wilde will whisk you away to another time. Go and see this unique and truly wonderful exhibit. Now open daily through November 4th. 9am until 5pm. Additional information available at: newportmansions.org
BENEATH THE BREAKERS TOUR
The Breakers tour, “Beneath the Breakers,” is scheduled daily. Tours are offered at 10:30 am, 12:30 pm, 2:30 pm, and 4:30 pm. Tour is one hour. Info: newportmansions.org
PRINT & DIGITAL RESOURCES
The very best leaders, guides, and managers of historic sites, mansions, and tour companies read constantly to know the most about the places they work and to learn the latest research about the history, artwork, and artifacts of the places they talk about to their guests. Here is another Newport book to read, learn from, and share.
EXPLORING NEWPORT. By Terrence Gavan. Newport, RI: Pineapple Publications, 1992. This is one of the early books that tour guides have used for more than 25 years to help visitors learn Newport history, introduce the mansions and explore many of the other features of our great City-by-the-Sea. The writer obviously loves Newport and the many nuances of its former and current residents. What is most amazing is the sheer amount of detailed information and anecdotes he crams into 112 pages! For the tour guide, the book includes nine detailed walking and riding tours of Newport, covering the several eras of the city, from colonial days through the Victorian and Gilded ages to present times. Different parts of the city are also explored. Each tour includes specific walking directions and historic details and highlights of each building and street along the way. There is so much information here that even long-time residents may learn something new about the homes and streets they pass each day. A walking waterfront tour of several of the city’s key piers and wharves, a Cliff Walk tour, and a driving tour of Ocean Drive are also included. The book is illustrated with ten simple maps and 69 photographs. Terrence Gavan’s tour guide is a wealth of facts and history and a resource you’ll read and refer to often.
SUGGESTIONS & REVISIONS REQUESTED FOR THE 2019 EDITION OF THE
NEWPORT TOUR GUIDES & GREETERS HANDBOOK
I am now updating and editing changes and revisions to the content of The Official 2018 Newport Tour Guides & Greeters Handbook to prepare for publication of THE OFFICIAL 2019 NEWPORT TOUR GUIDES & GREETERS HANDBOOK.
If you or your organization has updated phone, numbers, web sites, social media pages, job opportunities, special events scheduled, or other information that would be helpful to the current and future corps of tour guides, greeters, and volunteers working in the Greater Newport County tourism and hospitality industries, please send them to me directly at kennethproudfoot@hotmail.com; or by mail to Kenneth Proudfoot, P.O. Box 231, Newport, RI 02840. Thank you!
HANDBOOK FOR NEW TOUR GUIDES & GREETERS
If you’re new to Newport and/or new to this field, get your copy of THE OFFICIAL 2018 NEWPORT GUIDES & GREETERS HANDBOOK [amazon.com] to help you become a master hospitality ambassador for our city. It also lists many of the best tour companies and hospitality organizations hiring seasonal and year-round people here. Consider working in ticket sales or other support positions at one or more of these tour companies. It will give you some visitor services experience and make you aware of tour guide and greeter jobs as they become available during the season.
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KENNETH PROUDFOOT, a Newport Tour Escort and Guide, is the author of The Official 2018 Newport Tour Guides & Greeters Handbook (Shoreline Press (RI), 2017).
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